Woman With Stage IV Breast Cancer Gives Birth After Brain Tumor Diagnosis

Maralee Lellio was diagnosed with Stage II breast cancer at age 29. Her oncologist recommended chemotherapy and surgery. Before beginning chemotherapy she and her husband froze embryos, and she underwent a double mastectomy.

Lellio was declared cancer-free in September 2019. The couple then began IVF with the goal of having a second child for their daughter who was then 2 years old. Headaches and dizziness later appeared.

A CT scan showed nothing abnormal at first. The headaches intensified and became incapacitating. In the summer of 2020 she went to the emergency room where an MRI revealed a large brain tumor. Doctors told her the cancer had recurred as Stage IV breast cancer that had spread to her brain.

Only about 1 in 3 patients with Stage IV breast cancer survive more than five years according to the National Breast Cancer Foundation. The disease is considered incurable. Lellio underwent a craniotomy but the tumor grew back larger than before.

She transferred her care and began radiation treatment. The radiation caused seizures and left her unable to walk. She said she accepted that she was dying and would not see her daughter grow up or have a second child.

Her husband overheard her expressing those thoughts to a friend on the phone. He told her he believed she could survive and that there were cases where people beat the odds. That conversation changed her approach.

She decided to try. Her care was later transferred to another oncologist in July 2021. She told the new doctor she believed she would live despite the diagnosis. Scans showed the radiation had shrunk the brain tumor to almost nothing.

The oncologist prescribed a PARP inhibitor medication for two years because her cancer was BRCA-1 positive. Lellio remained free of any evidence of active cancer during that period. She later asked if she could stop the medication and try to become pregnant.

The doctor agreed after counseling and a one-year wait. Lellio became pregnant without IVF. In July 2024 she and her husband welcomed their second daughter. She described life since then as messy stressful and perfect.

She continues frequent scans with her doctor. She is scheduled to receive a hysterectomy in the near future to reduce the chance of another cancer. She has returned to work as a teacher. For Mother's Day she said she will celebrate being able to have both children after it once seemed impossible.

She said she is more grateful for life and its little stresses than she would have been without the experience. >"It sounds so not special. I don't know the word for it. It was like somebody flipped a light switch on in my brain.